Sideswipe
Sideswipe is an episode from the original series of ThunderCats. Written by William Overgard, it originally aired on September 25, 1987. Official Summary As Snarfer goes to the Berbil Village to get some Mexican takeout food for the ThunderCats' dinner, Chilla sideswipes his ship and ices it. Mandora attempts to stop Chilla, but she gets iced as well. Snarfer takes the hot sauce from the takeout dinner and pours it over Mandora, melting Chilla's ice. Returning to the Lair, they tell the ThunderCats their story. Lynx-O agrees to navigate Mandora, with his Braille Board, through the Forest of Mists to Darkside to help her serve an arrest warrant on Chilla. Using Chilla as a decoy, the Luna-Taks lie in wait and attack the ThunderCats upon their arrival with Mandora and steal Lynx-O's Braille Board. With the board, the ThunderCats are less capable of monitoring the Luna-Taks' activities in Darkside. Capturing Mandora and Lynx-O, the Luna-Taks seize the Braille Board but, as Luna attempts to make it work, the board disappears leaving its secrets only in Lynx-O's mind. Using the Skull Scope, the Luna-Taks search Lynx-O's brain for any useful information. Mandora escapes in time to save Lynx-O and, with the help of the ThunderCats, she locates Chilla and finally arrests her. Official Moral Mandora, the Evil Chaser, observes Chilla sideswipe, freeze, and force down Snarfer's ship as he is returning to the Tower of Omens with Mexican takeout food. When she pulls over Chilla, however, she is iced and Chilla gets away. Mandora visits the ThunderCats and asks for their help to track and apprehend Chilla on Darkside. Lynx-O agrees to accompany her and guide her through the Forests of Mists with his Braille Board. The Luna-Taks, however, are waiting for them in a plot to use Chilla as a decoy. They hope to capture the Braille Board in order to defend against its ability to lead the ThunderCats to them on Darkside. Mandora ignores Lynx-O description of three volcano peaks and is fooled into following Chilla into the fourth peak, which turns out to be a fake in front of Skytomb. Mandora and Lynx-O are captured and yield the Braille Board. When Luna tries to examine and work it, however, it vanishes and its secrets are left only in Lynx-O's brain. The Luna-Taks attempt to torture Lynx-O and get the information, using the Skull Scope. Mandora escapes from her cell and, with the use of Red Eye's Pacifier weapon, begins to take on all the Luna-Taks in her pursuit of Chilla. She frees Lynx-O and forces Luna to reveal Chilla's whereabouts. But she and Lynx-O are tricked and ejected from Skytomb into space. Lion-O is alerted to this by the Sword of Omens and, using its force field, pulls them to the Tower of Omens. Mandora renews her dedication to capture Chillla and enlists the other ThunderCats. This time her perseverance pays off and she is successful. Mandora's perseverance and devotion to upholding the law exemplifies the quality of single-mindedness and self-discipline that at times is necessary in our own lives. Our inclination is to be easy on ourselves, to make exceptions to rules, and to defer hard work and effort. But in order to accomplish our goals we know we can't always take the easy way out and that we must discipline ourselves, work hard, and persevere through difficulties. To make a good grade requires we study. To make an athletic team requires we practice. To work in a profession requires we learn the necessary skills. Out achievement depends on our effort and, like Mandora, we respect ourselves and are respected by others when we are willing to commit ourselves to tasks and make the necessary effort to succeed. Summary Chilla freezes Snarfer's spaceship as he heads back to the Tower of Omens. When Mandora gets involved, Chilla freezes her and becomes a fugitive from the law. Story While returning back to the Tower of Omens with Mexican takeout, Snarfer’s ship is frozen and sideswiped by Chilla driving the Ice Runner. Mandora, who was patrolling nearby, notices this and immediately proceeds to give a ticket to Chilla but the Lunatak flees. Mandora then takes Snarfer to the Tower of Omens and asks the ThunderCats to help her get into DarkSide. Lynx-O agrees and he rides with Mandora on the Electro-Charger to DarkSide. Using his portable Braille Board, Lynx-O is able to navigate the two safely into the Lunataks realm. Lynx-O and Mandora fly right into the Lunataks’ trap and are captured. Luna’s happiness at finally having obtained the Braille Board is short lived as the board disappears on its own. In order to extract information about the Braille Board from Lynx-O, Alluro fits the Skull Scope on to Lynx-O and fires it up. Mandora manages to escape from her cage and frees Lynx-O from the machine but the two end up getting trapped inside a small rocket that the Lunataks fire into outer space. Alerted about his friends’ predicament by the Sword of Omens, Lion-O uses the Tower of Omens’ Cats Eye to project the sword’s beam into outer space and pull the rocket safely to earth. Lion-O, Lynx-O, Snarfer and Mandora then ride the ThunderStrike to DarkSide where Mandora finally arrests Chilla. Characters Vehicles Locations Trivia Goofs * Despite Mandora finally arresting Chilla in this episode, Chilla is seen still active and causing havoc in the following episodes. ** It's possible Chilla escaped Penal Planet 10 somehow. * Despite the other Lunataks interfering in Mandora's attempts to arrest Chilla and threatening her and Lynx-O, she makes no attempt to arrest them. Notable Quotes Media This episode was released on the following media: DVD * Season 2 Volume 1 DVD * Season 2 DVD * Seasons 1 & 2 DVD Episode Screenshots External Links *ThunderCats 1985 cartoon series on Wikipedia *ThunderCats on ThunderCats.org Category:Thundercats: 1980s TV episodes Category:ThunderCats episodes written by William Overgard Category:Season 2 (ThunderCats 1980s)